Ascent Group LLC Buys New Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Key Points

• Ascent Group LLC has purchased 9,866 shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. valued at approximately $374,000, marking a new position for the firm in the first quarter.
• Other institutional investors, including Nuveen LLC and Amundi, also increased their holdings in Freeport-McMoRan, with roughly 80.77% of the stock now owned by hedge funds and institutions.
• Freeport-McMoRan reported a 14.5% year-over-year revenue increase to $7.58 billion, along with earnings per share of $0.54, exceeding analyst expectations.

Ascent Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 9,866 shares of the natural resource company's stock, valued at approximately $374,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. City Holding Co. acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Dagco Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at $37,000. CKW Financial Group acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at $42,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on FCX shares. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $56.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley lowered Freeport-McMoRan from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their target price for the company from $45.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $51.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 2.6%

FCX traded down $1.20 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $44.72. 16,042,709 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,737,650. The stock has a market capitalization of $64.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.88, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 2.47. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $43.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.15. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $27.66 and a one year high of $52.61.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.85 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.37% and a net margin of 7.45%.Freeport-McMoRan's revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.46 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.73%.

Freeport-McMoRan Profile

Freeport-McMoRan Inc engages in the mining of mineral properties in North America, South America, and Indonesia. It primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and other metals. The company's assets include the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona; Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico; and Henderson and Climax in Colorado, North America, as well as Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile.